RMweb Premium John M Upton Posted September 25, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 25, 2013 Hello I have an old Hornby Triang Class L1 4-4-0 sitting on my desk complete with a working XO4 motor in it(!) and am looking to give it some love. I know that it is not overly accurate but would at least be looking to put a more up to date chassis underneath it and the tender. I have considered a Hornby Railroad School's Class as a replacement chassis donor although that has outside cylinders which would need to be lopped off for a starter. I don't really want to go down the kit built chassis road so can anyone reccomend a suitable RTR chassis of reasonably recent manufacture that may suit the bill, assuming the Schools chassis is a non starter that is? TIA! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Andy W Posted September 25, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 25, 2013 Since Hornby used the L1 mouldings to produce an LMS 2P back in the day, would it be appropriate to use a recent production loco drive 2P chassis to revive your L1? It is at least already inside cylinder so less lopping required. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium John M Upton Posted September 25, 2013 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted September 25, 2013 Sounds like a good idea. Thanks! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartingram Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 Why not just detail the chassis and keep the X04. Very reliable and go on for ever. If you want to, Ultrascale do replacement drop-in gears of a different ratio. And you could add pickups to the tender. Stewart Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OFFTHE RAILS Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 Hello I have an old Hornby Triang Class L1 4-4-0 sitting on my desk complete with a working XO4 motor in it(!) and am looking to give it some love. I know that it is not overly accurate but would at least be looking to put a more up to date chassis underneath it and the tender. I have considered a Hornby Railroad School's Class as a replacement chassis donor although that has outside cylinders which would need to be lopped off for a starter. I don't really want to go down the kit built chassis road so can anyone reccomend a suitable RTR chassis of reasonably recent manufacture that may suit the bill, assuming the Schools chassis is a non starter that is? TIA! If you really want to change the chassis, the best chassis to use is that from the Hornby T9. It has the correct 10' (40mm) coupled wheel base. The tender drive (and the latest loco drive) Hornby 2P has a 9'6" coupled wheelbase so isn't really suitable. My blog on this forum shows my as yet unfinished L1 body on a T9 chassis with a Bachmann "N" tender. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackRat Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 I replaced the wheels with Romfords and used their axles suitable bushed as the chassis is dead easy to use. I added tender pick ups and re used the original coupling rods, with Pecorino fibre washers. One day IWILL get round to finishing it! Still runs a treat after 50 years? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bike2steam Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 I have a tenderless L1 here, so if anyone has a spare tender ???? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 I replaced the wheels with Romfords and used their axles suitable bushed as the chassis is dead easy to use. I added tender pick ups and re used the original coupling rods, with Pecorino fibre washers. One day IWILL get round to finishing it! Still runs a treat after 50 years? Markits do axles to fit Triang chassis, so no need for bushes Airfix 5 pole motors do come up on Ebay and are a lot better and are a direct replacement Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OFFTHE RAILS Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 I have a tenderless L1 here, so if anyone has a spare tender ???? Don't bother trying to find a Triang L1 tender - it's the awful one that came with the Triang 3F 0-6-0 and it wasn't accurate for that either. The old L1 loco body is reasonably accurate and the Bachmann N tender is the right type to go with it. Bachmann used to sell them for around £15. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRman Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 The L1 is not a bad moulding, considering its age. I did much like Black Rat - mine is also unfinished! Adding wire handrails and separate pipework makes quite a difference. I also put correct sized Romford wheels on mine, and consequently it sits nearly 2mm too high now! Mine was converted before the correct Triang-sized axles were made available so has bushes to compensate for the smaller axles. I must add extra pickups to the tender too - that's a good idea. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Moss Posted September 26, 2013 Share Posted September 26, 2013 I got one off ebay with the intention of repainting and detailing. It arrived in a rather more mint condition than described and I can't bring myself that so its running around the club layout in original condition. It runs forever and joins one of the many old bits of stock on the club layout (Dublo Castle, Coronation, 8F's. Triang L1, Brittania, 2 x Blue Pullmans) 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruciethefish Posted September 26, 2013 Share Posted September 26, 2013 The L1 body was a fairly decent representation of the prototype, & can be turned into a good model with some extra detailing. I cut away the awful 'skirt' ahead of the leading splasher, then filled the void under the boiler with a slice cut from a suitable plastic tube. The only trouble with the original chassis, apart from the overscale height, is that the XO4 motor protrudes into the cab.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium John M Upton Posted September 26, 2013 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted September 26, 2013 What was the 4-4-0 chassis used by Hornby for the Toy Story 3 set? It seems to be of similar dimensions an can be picked up dirt cheap. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellsy Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 I did the same but I used wheels, motor and gearbox, plus a more accurate smokebox door all obtained from Roxey Mouldings, keeping the chassis and body, and a dcc decoder too, looks good enough for me trolling round my layout 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 Hi All Been doing one of these off and on for a while. Cracking little engine, got mine already modified on Ebay, but needing further work, sorted the tender side of things retained the Hornby tender and re wheeled it, new buffer beam detail and new tender chassis as it was broken, which I knew before I bought it, got a new wheel set for driving wheels to fit. Sorry to ask on someone elses thread but, does anyone know of any good reference for the sand boxes and brake hangers/shoes at all, I can't seem to locate any images which I can define the shape of these properly ? TIA All the best Chris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Il Grifone Posted October 5, 2013 Share Posted October 5, 2013 There was an article on detailing these in the model press soon after the model came on the market. IIRC, this involved adding the prominent vacuum pipe on the front buffer beam and the sand boxes and pipes - I'll see if I can look it out. The tender is full of artistic rivets* (unless you have the later version in Southern Railway livery), which require removal (or replace the tender as stated above). Then something has to be done about the ride height (like most Tri-ang models the buffer height is about 2mm too high). Tri-ang realising locomotives are supposed to be green (see below) supplied her in this colour. Unfortunately BR decided that they would be lined black, so a repaint is in order, as are proper wire handrails (unless you want to keep her in collectable condition of course). * I'm not sure why they did this - the original LMS tender didn't have them either (leaving aside that it isn't the correct tender for the 3F it was teamed with). 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Rite Posted October 9, 2013 Share Posted October 9, 2013 Hi All Been doing one of these off and on for a while. Cracking little engine, got mine already modified on Ebay, but needing further work, sorted the tender side of things retained the Hornby tender and re wheeled it, new buffer beam detail and new tender chassis as it was broken, which I knew before I bought it, got a new wheel set for driving wheels to fit. Sorry to ask on someone elses thread but, does anyone know of any good reference for the sand boxes and brake hangers/shoes at all, I can't seem to locate any images which I can define the shape of these properly ? TIA All the best Chris Hi Chris, I too superdetailed my original L1 (bought with my first winnings from our Football Pool Syndicate more than 50 years ago)from an article in the Railway modeller back in August 1962. I have the magazine next to my laptop as I write this and I also have a Skinley Drawing of the L1 which I could can scan and send to you. My L1 has been in the shops now for about 3 years while I waited for a suitable tender to turn up, which it did about six months ago as part of body and tender deal for a N15 in exchange for a motor gearbox assembly I had surplus. I would put the scan up on the topic but not sure about copyright even after all this time. Let me know and I will see what I can do. regards Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatB Posted October 9, 2013 Share Posted October 9, 2013 I recently re-read Guy Williams' book on 4mm loco construction and was interested to note that he was, in the late 70s, enthusiastic about the Triang XO4. If it's good enough for Pendon ... . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest spet0114 Posted October 9, 2013 Share Posted October 9, 2013 There was an article on detailing these in the model press soon after the model came on the market. IIRC, this involved adding the prominent vacuum pipe on the front buffer beam and the sand boxes and pipes - I'll see if I can look it out. It was in the Railway Modeller, but is conveniently reproduced in Vol. 1 of Pat Hammond's Tri-ang tour-de-force.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted October 9, 2013 Share Posted October 9, 2013 Hi All, thanks for the Pointers Wayne, yes please, PM sent. Thanks again All the bestChris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJS1977 Posted October 9, 2013 Share Posted October 9, 2013 Incidentally, the L1 was the first Triang loco with see-through spoked wheels! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
janw Posted April 9, 2018 Share Posted April 9, 2018 Why not just detail the chassis and keep the X04. Very reliable and go on for ever. If you want to, Ultrascale do replacement drop-in gears of a different ratio. And you could add pickups to the tender. Stewart Dusting off an old topic; I am working on an L1 too and looking into how to get it running slower and better. A new gear set looks like a good idea, many thanks. Could anyone tell more? Which worm + gear set? The 40:1, type 2 listed here? https://www.ultrascale.uk/eshop/products/CAT015#RTRRG But how 'drop in' is this operation? You will have to remove a wheel from the driving axle? How is this done? And how do you remove the old gear and worm? And then put the wheel back and get the quartering right? Jan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted April 9, 2018 Share Posted April 9, 2018 You could try and fit a MR/Airfix MRRC 005 (5 pole) motor, this is a drop in replacement and better quality motor Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
manna Posted April 9, 2018 Share Posted April 9, 2018 G'Day Gents If you want to give yourself a bit more work, you can try this, if you have a 'plate' type chassis, dig out the middle, which allows you to fit in a smaller Hornby motor, I later replaced the wheels with Romfords. manna 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Johnster Posted April 9, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 9, 2018 I recently re-read Guy Williams' book on 4mm loco construction and was interested to note that he was, in the late 70s, enthusiastic about the Triang XO4. If it's good enough for Pendon ... . The XO4 was a little miracle of mass produced precision engineering (and British, dammit Carruthers) in it's day, about as good as it got for a 3-pole open frame motor, Even with the 20:1 gearing it could turn in a decent slow running controlled performance, and with Romford gears of higher ratios was excellent. Of course, if you put Rommy gears on a loco, you probably re-motored it with a Bulldog or a Terrier as well, so the XO4 got a bit sidelined as a serious contender; the fact that it came from Triang, a 'toy' manufacturer, didn't help much either. A good little motor and, in my view, very underrated. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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